The marketplace is fragmented by a wide variety of pre-packaged beverage products. Each beverage product may have a distinct taste or flavor. Despite the differences in taste, however, many of the beverage products include common ingredients. For example, a large number of beverage products may include the diluent water.
Some beverage dispensing systems may capitalize on the commonality of ingredients. The ingredients may be separated from each other, and the system may create the beverage by combining the ingredients in response to consumer demand. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,370 entitled “Tri-Mix Sugar Based Dispensing System” and filed on Mar. 11, 1987, incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, discloses a beverage dispensing system that may create of a variety of beverage products by combining separate diluents and flavoring agents with one universal sweetener.
Such beverage dispensing systems are typically not employed to produce juice. Because of the volume of the juice concentrate, these systems normally require a relatively large footprint in order to provide a wide range of different juices. Juice dispensing systems that enable creating a number of different juices and yet have a comparatively small footprint are disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 11/276,549 entitled “Juice Dispensing System” filed on Mar. 6, 2006, U.S. Ser. No. 11/777,309 entitled “Dispenser for Beverages Including Juices” filed on Jul. 13, 2007, U.S. Ser. No. 11/777,314 entitled “Clean in Place System for Beverage Dispensers” filed on Jul. 13, 2007, and U.S. Ser. No. 11/777,303 entitled “Flow Sensor” filed on Jul. 13, 2007, each being incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Although some known beverage dispensing systems may capitalize on the commonality of ingredients, many beverage dispensing systems do not capitalize on the innate ability to dispense user-configured products. Instead, beverage dispensing systems typically dispense branded products that have been market tested and are readily available in pre-packaged containers in the marketplace. One reason why beverage dispensing systems typically do not dispense user-configured products is that the user may inadvertently formulate a product having an undesirable configuration, and therefore may be displeased with the system. A desirable beverage dispensing system may enable the user to configure the product while limiting the freedom of the user in selecting a product outside of certain tested ranges. Such a beverage dispensing system may ensure the dispensed product has a desirable flavor and consistency.